Too Many Bodies: Place Called UsPress and Festival goodness has started to come in for our music video for gun reform:

FESTIVALS:NAME:Grove Film FestivalGorst Underground Film FestivalSan Francisco Dance Film FestivalSouth Asian Film Festival of AmericaRails to Reels Film FestivalHollywood South Urban Film Festival (MS)ICP Entertainment Short Film Series (NYC)Twin Falls SANDWHICHES Film FestPlum Tuckered Film Festival (WV)Clifton Film Celebration

DATE: AWARDS:9/26/201810/6/2018 Best Music Video Award Winner10/14/201810/14/2018 Audience Award: Best Music Video10/19/201810/21/2018 Top Award, Best Music Video11/2/2018 4th Annual ICP Ent Music Video Short Film Series AwardNov 2-311/3/2018 Best of Short Music Video/Animation/Experimental11/9/2018 Won: Best Music Video, Noms: Best Overall Film, #DoTheThing11/10/18 Special Mention11/8 - 11/16 Best Animation / Experimental11/10/20182/1/2019 Silver Award for Best Music Video3/21/2019

PRESS:

Dance Enthusiast interviewed me about the making and message of "Too Many Bodies."Read it here! It's basically all of my own words, so I hope you enjoy it!

Dance Magazine wrote up on the zeitgeist of dance films protesting gun violence and featured Too Many Bodies. Check it out here!Choreographed by Nancy Dobbs Owen and performed by several young dancers from California, "Too Many Bodies" follows a student crawling out of a closet after a shooting, walking past fallen classmates and teachers who come back to life and begin to dance, showcasing all that's lost when these lives end too soon.

Nothing like a write up in your home newspaper! Leah Garchik of the San Francisco Chronicle attended our SF Film Society Launch and panel discussion and wrote about it for the paper.The movie isn’t bloody, the point made instead by elegant choreography by Nancy Dobbs Owen, music by Alex Mackey and photography by Daphne Wu.

Here is a wonderful article on the video and LA launch event by Valerie-Jean Miller. I've excerpted a few quotes, but invite you to read the entire article!-As the lyrics begin, we move through an empty hallway, then back to the classroom, where, as the girl steps over the bodies, they rise and begin to dance slowly, passionately, starting to carry on activities done at school, and help each other to get up, supporting each other thru subtle dance moves and caresses. It is a very loving, caring dance and the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful.-The dancers in the video were lovely, fluid and performed with clear intent. They included Nate Odell, Amir Yorke, Mia Lind, Malcolm Buchanan, Alexandra Woodley, Agnes Anglade, Eryn Orsburn, Kelly Perez and Jason Vu. Bravo to Nancy Dobbs Owen for her creative contribution in crafting the steps that made the lyrics so meaningful.

Jeff Slayton from LA Dance Chronicle also attended and wrote a lovely piece. I urge you to read it, as the emotions captured were just what we hope for.

Bernstein at 100: Marina Del Rey Symphony Ballet at Burton Chase ParkThere is so much love in the review from Broadway World, written by Valerie-Jean Miller. Here is a paragraph on West Side Story Suites, but check out the whole review here.

"The grand finale was a perfect last piece. The Orchestra played the bejesus out of "Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story, '" the iconic genius combination of Leonard Bernstein's music and Jerome Robbin's Choreography. The dancers were on their toes, in the air, on the ground, double-pirouetting and acting out in movement, the story of two New York gangs in the 1960s, what life was like and the tragedy that befalls them. ..... They took us through the "Prologue," the Adagio of "Somewhere" with beautiful partner work, clean and lovingly executed, the gym dance, or "Mambo" which was pure fun to watch, as they mixed balletic dancing with playful antics, interesting lifts and break out in a feverish mambo challenge and group section that made the musical notes seem to dance off the page and come to life. Followed by the Meeting Scene, and the famous "Cool" jazz sequence, the Rumble, and then the soaringly exquisite "Finale," each section was cleverly a mixture of an homage to Mr. Robbins and some inventive, substantial choreography.I loved the dance sections where acrobatics and tumbling, the knee spins, double and triple pirouettes, and a few flick-kick jumps that I've never quite seen before were used to accent the urgency, intertwined with strong balletic movements that swept you away. All perfectly aligned and placed and performed excellently."

F_ckYourPoliticsWe won our first (of many we hope) film festivals as Best Experimental Film at the Oniros Film Awards based out of Italy. We are so proud of our collaborative team of artists and dancers and look forward to the possibility of many more festival accolades.

Welcome To The White Room-and dance choreographer Nancy Dobbs Owen's highly original take on the tango and you’ve got one of Theatre Of NOTE’s best designed and choreographed productions ever.*StageSceneLA

-Marcks and Gardner, and then Marcks and Uy, dance seductive tangos thanks to dance choreography by Nancy Dobbs Owen*BroadwayWorld

-Dancing a very hot, almost violent tango by Nancy Dobbs Owen....*Los Angeles Beat

Scenie Winner: Outstanding Choreography

Enron-Add to all of the above a song-and-dance number to accompany a commodities-trading sequence and a thrilling eight-combatant Star Wars-style light saber duel to illustrate California’s electricity deregulation and Enron simply could not be more theatrical....Owen’s inventive choreography (which her cast execute quite splendidly with Yoder as dance captain) and.....exhilarating fight choreography both deserve thumbs up as does Daniel Halden’s vocal direction of barbershop foursome Buis, Jones, McClure, and Nazemetz.*StageSceneLA

-overall, the big numbers are fun and well choreographed (Nancy Dobbs Owen)*Theatre Eddys

*War Bride-Macher and director Nancy Dobbs Owen have a field day skewering a gamut of melodramatic tropes by slathering them with a rich sauce of Sirkian irony and J-Horror.*LA Weekly (Note: this was a positive review. We asked)

War Bride, now getting its World Premiere production by SkyPilot Theatre, astutely directed and imaginatively choreographed by Nancy Dobbs Owen.*StageSceneLA

-“War Bride” is a wonderfully written play and cleverly directed with some of the most intense stage performances you will see. It is a moving and passionate play that you will remember long after you see it.*NOHO Arts

-Director Nancy Dobbs Owen creates a moving piece of theater through the combination of fine acting, production work, and symbolism. She inspires moving performances from her actors.*Tolucan Times

WorkingIt’s Working’s musical numbers, however, that make it such a crowd-pleaser, especially as directed by August Viverito (on top of his game) and choreographed by Nancy Dobbs Owen (seamlessly integrating movement and dance into Viverito-directed scenes).*StageSceneLA

Scenie Winner: Outstanding Choreography

Skeleton Stories-When mother and daughter unite, their simple and beautiful pas de deux, choreographed by Nancy Dobbs Owen, suffuses the reunion with tenderness.*StageRaw